Wednesday Bolts – 10.5.11

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com says the two sides are only $80 million apart: “Though no additional negotiations are scheduled and the process now enters the dangerous and unpredictable phase where any slipups could jeopardize a large chunk of the regular season, the two sides are closer than they publicly divulged in a pair of dueling news conferences in adjacent meetings rooms of a Times Square hotel. Here is where they are, according to multiple people involved in the negotiations: After the owners offered the players a 50-50 split of revenues that effectively was a 47 percent share with about $350 million in expenses deducted first, the two sides met in small groups in the hallway while each side’s larger group caucused in separate rooms. As the hour grew late, the tension was rising and becoming palpable. Both sides recognized it was time to try everything possible to make a deal.”

Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on yesterday’s negotiations: “Meanwhile, a union source disputes some of the fine points, saying first and foremost, that it’s a major breach of negotiating etiquette to publicly expose the contents of private sidebar conversations. The source also says (and the league denies) that the league did not exactly offer half. Instead, according to the source, it offered to guarantee players 49 percent of revenues, while also giving them the right to earn as much as 51 percent of basketball revenues if players could command contracts worth that much. The union source also maintains that the players did not flatly reject the NBA’s offer, as described, but offered another wrinkle in response, to reduce the minimum amount players would be guaranteed from their previous position of 53. (To what the source wouldn’t say.)”

Chris Sheridan: “At the start of the day, the score was Players: 54; Owners 46. At the end of the day, after a doomsday-like declaration from Billy Hunter that there might not be any more bargaining sessions or a month or two, then a pronouncement from David Stern that Monday was the deadline for making a deal or losing the start of the regular season, the score had changed. It is now Players: 53, Owners 50, in terms of the split of revenues. In other words, they were separated by eight percentage points at the beginning of the day; three percentage points by the end of the day (although the players argued that the proposed 50/50 split was a mischaracterization, something Stern vehemently disputed). I’ll repeat that: From eight to three.”

Basically here’s the situation: A deal is there waiting to be struck. It’s just a matter of if they’re going to do it or not.

Zach Lowe of SI: “The league made another significant concession: It offered the union the chance to opt out of the proposed 10-year CBA after the seventh year. The length of the proposed CBA itself has been a key issue, with the owners pushing for a 10-year deal and the players capping their proposals at six years. One key reason: The league’s current national TV deal expires after the 2015-16 season, and just about everyone expects the networks to offer up gobs more money for the next deal — money the players and owners split just like the rest of the revenue pie. The players do not want to lock themselves into a deal that limits their share of that new TV money to a degree with which they are uncomfortable; the owners, seeking some certainty, have proposed a 10-year CBA to cover the first four seasons of that TV deal. For them to give the players an opt-out after Year 7 is a real concession, even if it still gives the owners the first year of that national TV deal.”

Tweet from Woj: “Why’s Stern waiting ’til Monday to cancel regular season games? He’s pushing union to meet in next few days to hammer out deal, source says.”